The Revision of Cordelia Chase
by Gemjj
Summary: Old fanfic of mine. Reposting to to keep track of all my fanfics. Set after Birthdhay, Cordelia has to travel to Sunnydale to help with a demon. What will the Scoobies think of this differnet Cordelia to the one they used to know? Angel misses Cordelia and admits his true feelings for her to Fred. Originally written in response to a challenge - details included at start...
1. Chapter 1

**Another old fic of mine I found. It is posted elsewhere on the ol' internet, but I'm just getting them all on so I can keep track of them. **

**Please Note: I have no plans to continue this at the moment.**

**Title: **The Revision Of Cordelia Chase  
**Author: **Gem  
**Written: **07-31-2002  
**Rating: **PG-15 (bad language)  
**Summary: **Set after Birthday so Cordy is all demon-y! And btw, forgive me if I'm a little of the mark with any of the Buffy characters, I haven't watched the show in *ages*, 'cause I now prefer Angel… I only catch it now and again… Hope any little slip ups don't ruin it for you!  
**Disclaimer: **The characters in the Angelverse were created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.  
**Notes: **Okay, so this is my take on Cordy's Bitch challenge, which was…  
· Cordelia in Sunnydale w/o most of the AI crew for the majority of the story-why is up to you.  
· The Scooby Gang trying to figure out just what has happened to Cordelia over the last three years  
· Someone eavesdropping on a conversation between Cordelia and someone else.

* * *

"Where?" Angel asked, as he smothered down his shirt – why hadn't she noticed it's color? He'd brought it especially for her!

"Angel!" The shrill voice scolded, "yes I have noticed your damn shirt, and it's very nice and all, but pressing issue here! Needing your attention!"

Snapping his gaze back to her, he grinned sheepishly, she *had* noticed! "Sorry, Cordy! Where did you say you where going?"

Cordelia rolled her eyes, letting her head loll backwards. Facing the ceiling, she asked, "why me?!"

Returning to look at him, she noticed his eyebrows were now raised and he was looking quite concerned – which was also *very* cute. "Sunnydale. I've been called back on a mission. They need a seer."

Angel frowned; this was not good at all. "What for?"

Angel could help but notice how the material of her blouse sagged around her chest as she pulled her shoulders into her body as she shrugged. "Willow said something about a demon –"

"- When is it *not* about a demon?" The vampire asked, taking in an un-needed breath of air and letting it out again, expressing his annoyance with a sigh. "When do they want us?"

A perfectly plucked eyebrow raised and changed her expression completely, "us?"

"What, you want to go on your own?"

Again with the shrugging, he thought, trying desperately to keep his gaze on her face. Was she giving him a view on purpose? He wondered.

"Not really, but Willow was quite certain that the invitation was for me only."

Angel crossed his arms, "what?" Why didn't they want his help? They were requesting *his* seer after all, wasn't he kind a part of the package?

"Something about the B-word."

"Again, what?" A one shouldered, shrug – she's defiantly doing it on purpose, he decided.

"Buffy! You moron! She doesn't want to see you. Willow said she's got a lot on her plate and seeing you would mess with her head."

Angel snorted, "and yet, they wanna see you?"

He smirked, watching her face change from empty – as she worked out what he had said, to angry and then to a half-smile.

Laughing, she hit his arm, "you bastard! I'll have you know Willow said it would be good to see me again and catch up!" She started to walk away from him, only turning back to say, "so there," and to pull out her tongue.

He groaned when she was out of hearing distance. That tongue! God, she was torturing him and she didn't even know… and never mind about the tongue, he thought, cocking his head to one side as he watched her walk away, what a butt!

"Angel?" The vampire jumped about a mile in the air as Wesley came up next to him.

"Wesley! Don't do that!" He glared at his friend, irritated.

The rouge demon hunter smirked, "don't do what? Make you jump, or distract you from checking Cordy out?"

Angel's mouth dropped, busted, he thought. "I was *not* checking her out!" He said, frowning, that came out too strong and too quickly.

Wes just nodded, "of course not, Angel. I was only kidding."

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Cordelia cried jumping up and down.

Angel laughed; anyone would think he'd never let her borrow his car before.

"How cool am I gonna look? Driving along the highway, the sun shining, the wind in my hair…" She trailed off, and Angel was locked into that vision of her… one, he sadly would never see.

"You had better get going. I want you there before it gets dark – if you set off now you should be there just before the sunsets."

Cordelia rolled her eyes, "Okay, boss."

"Hey!" Wesley crossed his arms, "I thought *I* was –"

Cordy nodded before he could finish. "The boss? Of course you are, Wes! But Angel's the boss when it come to his car," the vampire didn't like the way she giggled mischievously.

"Anyway, I guess I had better get going!" She said cheerfully. Angel frowned, why was she so happy to get a few days away from him? Did he smell or something?

"Will you bring back souvenirs?" Fred asked excitedly.

Cordelia smiled at the other girl, as she pulled her into a hug. "I'll do my best!"

Gunn was up next, scooping her up, "don't have to much fun slaying demons without me!"

He chuckled, "I'll try not to, Barbie!"

The hug between Wes and Cordy was more gentle, he took her into his arms and pulled her close, letting them stay like that for a moment as he whispered in her ear, "are you sure you don't want any company?"

She pulled away, "you'd only cramp my style, Wes," she said, grinning affectionately.

She turned to Angel next, engulfing him into a wild hug … he noticed it was nowhere near as tender as the one shared with Wesley. "I'll see you soon, Broody-Boy!"

Then as quickly as she had grabbed him, she let go and began fussing over Connor who was wrapped in a blanket in Lorne's arms.

She kissed his son delicately on the head, telling him to be a good boy or she'd be having words when she returned.

Looking at Lorne, she winked, "not too much Barry White while Connors in the room, okay?"

Lorne looked shocked, "why ever not, Cordeliacious?!"

Cordelia never replied, she was reduced to a giggle – as was Fred – as Lorne sung a line in a waaay deeper voice what what was natural, "we got it together tonight –" Then the green demon smiled, "whatever you say, Precious!"

"Right," she said, tossing Angel's car keys up in the air and catching them again, turning and walking into the sun and heading for the car, "I'm off!"

The six pairs of eyes watched as her slender figure slid into the car gracefully, and with a wave of the hand, she revved the engine.

"WAIT!" Angel cried, before realising what he had done. All eyes turned to him and he quickly grabbed his coat and pulled it up over his shoulders before dashing into the sunlight.

Kneeling beside the car, he looked at his beautiful seer, the sun lighting up her face. "Angel?" She asked, concerned.

Oh, God. What had he done – he couldn't tell her now, not when she'd have to leave right afterwards with the issue unresolved… leaving them to deal with tension next time they saw each other. 'Fix it! Fix it!' Echoed in his head, and he gulped.

There was only one topic that came into his mind as his eyes caught the locket around her neck. It had been the one he had given her for her birthday – the one with the picture of Connor in. "If they ask … well, about me, then –"

Cordelia frowned, and her eyes narrowed, "- If *Buffy* asks, Angel, I'll tell her to ring you and –"

"- No! I didn't mean… I just… I just wanted you to know that you could tell them about Connor, if the moments right."

Cordelia's gaze softened a little, "but if they ask – if *she* asks, … I'll miss parts out, Angel, but I won't lie."

He nodded… and stepped away from the vehicle, "ring me as soon as you get there."

She grunted, "just make sure you actually have your damned cell phone on!"

"She's here!" Dawn squealed excitedly as she watched a car pull up with a familiar face at the wheel.

Buffy rolled her eyes as she lifted herself out of the seat to greet Cordelia, "I don't know why you're so eager, Dawn. You've only met Cordelia once before, and if I remember correctly, you two didn't exactly say a word to each other."

Dawn blushed, "I was shy… I thought she was cool."

"Cordelia's cool alright," Xander said, making no attempt to get up and greet her, "as cool as ice."

"Actually, the last time I saw her, she was looking pretty *hot*," Spike added, "she had this cute orange top on and was all, 'listen to me, you little cockney'…" he chuckled, "I like 'em feisty like that."

"Which reminds me," Willow began, turning to the rest of the group, "she doesn't know about Spike's chip so we should tell her about what happened with the Initiative and - "

Spike jumped up, "that's fine with me, Red," he was jogging to the door, "just as soon as I've had my fun with her!" He looked to Xander, "wanna play?" He grinned playfully.

Xander couldn't have got up any faster. He followed Spike to the door.

"I really think that perhaps you –" Giles started.

"-slush, Giles," Buffy waved him quiet with her hand and watched Spike and Xander with a smirk. "It's just a bit of fun… let's see how Cordy'll react."

Cordelia heaved the book Wesley had put on the back seat into her arms. Apparently, she wasn't all that Giles requested.

"Why do they make these so darn big and heavy…" she grumbled, double-checking she had locked the car and the keys were safely in her pocket. She didn't want another relapse of the last time, not after Angel was being so generous to her lately.

She made her way to the entrance of the shop, looking with annoyance at the door. How the hell am I going to open that? She wondered, shifting the book in her arms trying to free a hand.

If she had been normal human-Cordy she wouldn't have noticed it as soon as she did, but her demonic senses picked up on the sound of the handle turning and she was immediately grateful for whoever was on the other side.

But as the door swung open, her eyes assessed the situation quicker than any human eye could have; the annoying bleached blonde vampire was in game face and holding Xander in a deathly position, his fangs dangerously close to the boy's neck.

Cordelia found herself moving quickly and her demon instincts took over, just as Angel said they would as long as they knew the moves. The book was no longer heavy and with one step forward she had slammed the damn thing into the vampire's snarling face, making him misplace his grip on Xander.

In a flash, Cordy had grabbed her ex-boyfriends hand and whirled him away from the danger. Swiftly grabbing a stake from her back pocket she punched the vampire with one hand, sending him sprawling onto the floor and then she jumped forward, straddling him.

The stake rested inches from his chest, "say goodnight, Blondie," she murmured, raising the stake and then letting if fly towards the creatures heart.

There was a chorus of yells throughout the room; "Ahhhhh!" "Cordelia!" "Oh, SHIT!" "Nooooooo!" "Cordelia – you can't -" "Cordy!"

Cordelia stopped, about a centimetre away from embedding the stake into the vampire's chest. She looked up at the shocked, scared, and amazed faces in the room, "what?" she asked.

"I would really appreciate it if you could *not* stake me," Spike said from underneath her.

* * *

Spike was still giving Cordelia evil glares when she wasn't looking, and Buffy found it highly amusing.

"A what?" Cordelia leaned in, she hadn't quite heard Giles over the Anya and Xander whispering saga. Which she could clearly hear, but chose to ignore. – It seemed the ex-demoness was unsure of Cordelia, being Xander's ex and everything.

"A -" Giles coughed and looked pointedly over at Xander and Anya, "Siskiy demon."

Cordelia nodded, "and what do I have to do to it?"

Buffy's eyes narrowed as she looked over at Cordelia, who does she think she is? Me? "You have to see it. It shouldn't be hard, Cordelia."

Cordelia was close to screaming, ever since the incident with Spike when she arrived, little-Miss-likes-to-fight had been a down right bitch to her – and that was supposed to be her role!

Cordy looked back at Giles, "so that's why you needed me. Only a seer can see a Sisky?"

Giles nodded, "yeah, we thought we'd be able to get the job done tonight, but there's a slight hitch."

Cordelia's eyebrow raised, "oh?"

"It's my fault actually." Willow butted in, smiling apologetically. "When we named and shamed this demon, Giles mentioned it does disappearing acts but it wouldn't be able to truly hide from a seer, so I jumped in with excitement remembering you'd sent me that email ages ago about you having visions and being Angel's seer and all. So I basically announced that I was going to ring you before Giles had a chance to finish of his research."

Cordy took it in, and shrugged, "so what was the rest of the research?"

"Just that a Sisky can only be killed when a full moon is in the sky. – Which isn't happening tonight, but we're in luck, there's one tomorrow."

Cordy pouted, "what is up with demons lately, huh?" She looked over to Buffy, "remember the good old days when you just had to stab it to death with something?" She sighed, and leaned back in her chair with a huff, "but NOOOO! Now they have to be stabbed with a particular object, at a certain time of the day, while you have to chant in a unspeakable language, whilst wearing stupid clothes – and if that's not enough, some of them have to be chopped up into little bits and be buried in a special magical boxes at a minimum distance from each other or the stupid thing comes back to life!" Cordelia rolled her eyes and looked over at Buffy again, "I mean, is it me, or are they getting harder to kill?"

Buffy actually smiled at that, "I know! – Last week we had to do a *stupid* ritual while I was slaying this slimy demon and then we had to dress the corpse up mummy-style and burry it under some stupid tree and then sprinkle cinnamon - *cinnamon* over the top of it before we could burry it! I mean, for God's sake!"

Cordelia was nodding, "are they, like, trying to ruin our lives? What happened to the good old vampire – stake in the heart and poof! The end!"

Buffy snorted, "tell me about it!"

The rest of the group were watching the exchange with interest. One moment it had been fairly obvious that Buffy was displeased with Cordelia being there, and then *wham*, Cordelia had suddenly knocked away Buffy's bad mood and connected on a slaying level with her. Someone's people skills had definitely improved.

Spike shuffled in his seat again, and Dawn rolled her eyes as he let out another moan. "Oh, for crying out loud, Spike! You're a vampire, you're back is *not* supposed to get damaged that easily!"

Tara spoke up for the first time since a shy 'hello' to Cordelia after the Spike mix up, "he's like a big baby, gagging for attention," she smirked.

"*Actually*" Spike began, snobbily, "it really does hurt."

Xander laughed at that, "who would've thought, the big bad vamp having his back done in by a female human chick with a heavy book!"

"Well, I thought the moves were very impressive," Dawn said. Buffy pouted once again, she could've done exactly what Cordy had done – a thousand times better.

Cordelia grinned at the teen, "thanks Dawn." She looked to Xander, a small smirk on her face, "and less of the human, thank you very much."

A mass of questioning eyes rested on her. And Cordy once again was pleased to have everyone's attention. She undoubtedly had it when she arrived, but had been too preoccupied to notice right away. But after the initial greetings, the group hadn't seemed that bothered with her. Xander and Anya had started whispering about her past with Xander, Spike had been complaining to Tara about his back while Buffy and Willow shared some short of private looks. Leaving Giles to inform her of the reason she was there for.

All throughout the journey to Sunnydale Cordelia had mused over how she would tell them about being half demon. She had suspected they would be like this as she began – all leaning forward on the edges of their seats. "I'm half demon now," she said, proudly.

"You're half demon?" Spike asked, Cordelia rolled her eyes and nodded. "Then I can hurt you for what you did to me -"

He didn't make a move for her, but Cordy wouldn't have put it past him. "What I did to you? – What about what *you* did to *me*?" She hadn't been happy when they had explained it had been a joke, but slightly proud that she had managed to foil it. She refused to get angry with them though, she wanted this to be a nice trip and not filled with arguments and bitchiness. … However, she still planned to get back at Xander and Spike somehow.

She crossed her arms, "I thought you were going to kill him! I only did what any person would've done – and kicked your pompous ass!"

"You did *not* kick my ass! You just surprised me, is all!"

Dawn nodded at him sympathetically, "yes, Spike!" She said sarcastically.

"Can we get back to the original topic?" Giles questioned impatiently, sending stern looks to the vampire.

Anya was more than happy to be the one to get the ball rolling, "how did you get to be a demon? How can I be one?"

"Doyle," Cordy began fondly, "originally had the visions, and when he died saving me, Angel and a room full of demons – of the good type, of course – he passed them onto me. Only, Doyle was a half demon himself, and my human body wasn't psychically strong enough to take them. They were as painful as they looked when Doyle had them, only they were slowly killing me. Then I had this vision that sent me into a coma, and Skip – my demon guide came to me on a supernatural plane and gave me a choice. To stay as I was in the coma state until my next vision did me in. *Or* to change my life forever and become part demon – and I'm thinking, not much of a choice, y'know? Change my life forever, or have no life?" Cordelia told the version of the story she had told Angel and the others back at the hotel, for some reason she felt they – Angel especially – would've made a big deal about her turning down her dream – former.

"What demon are you?" Giles asked with interest.

Cordelia sighed, "you tell me! … We have no clue. All that's different is that the visions are no longer pain excruciating, head shrinking, messages from the PTB – now they can happen without Angel running to save me from hitting the floor. Half the time he doesn't even realise I'm having one!" Then she grinned, "and I can fly! Well… kinda."

Dawn moved closer, "you can fly? What's that like?"

Cordy bit her bottom lip, "maybe fly isn't the right word. *Float* is more on the mark."

"But still, it must -"

Giles didn't let Dawn finish; he had questions of his own to ask the ex-May Queen. "What's the PTB?"

"The Powers That Be." Cordy answered, as if he should know what he was talking about, when his face remained blank she continued, "y'know the people upstairs who are watching over us all? They send me the visions to guide Angel. When they're done with him, he gets to shansu!" She grinned excitedly, but was only met with a room full of impassive faces.

"What's shansu?" Buffy asked.

"Wes translated it, at first he said it meant Angel was going to die – how depressed were we until he took another look and actually, it means he's going to live until he dies!"

Only Giles seemed to comprehend what she was saying, "Angel gets to become human."

Cordelia nodded, a huge smile on her face, "how out there is that?"

Buffy was shaking her head, "why didn't he tell me?"

Cordy shrugged, "he hasn't seen you to tell you, besides, don't get your hopes up, it's probably not going to happen in our lifetime." She smiled dreamily again, "but it's nice to think of. He's earned it already in my opinion."

The room went silent, everyone thinking about a human Angel. Even those who hadn't meet him – they'd heard enough about the broody vampire to know it would be a great thing.

"So, are we gonna sit here all night, or are you guys going to take me to the Bronze? It's been a long time since Cordy Chase had a night off!"

Willow smiled, "sure, Cordy. But the place hasn't changed much."

"And we're beginning to feel a little old there," Xander grumbled. Anya took his hand and pulled him to his feet.

"Duh, Xander, it *is* a teen hangout after all!" Dawn said, rolling her eyes and standing up.

"Like there's another place for us oldies," Willow added.

"That could be your next venture, Giles," Cordelia grinned. "I never would have thought of you as owning a magic shop, why not go one step further and get yourself a nightclub? Make the vampires come to you for dinner."

Giles and Cordy shared a look, "I'll think about it." He said, amused.

There was a loud 'bring' that echoed throughout the room, and Cordelia swore as she pulled out a cell phone from her pocket.

"What's wrong?" Tara asked shyly.

"I forgot to ring Angel. He's going to be pissed."

Cordelia wondered over to the other side of the shop to answer her call, eight pairs of eyes following her with curiosity.

"Hi Angel!" She said brightly, "Sorry I forgot –"

She sighed and listened. "I know, I know." She turned back to the others and rolled her eyes, "jeez, been brooding much? I'm perfectly alright."

She shrugged, "well it's been switched on, I dunno, I must have a bad signal here or something."

She snorted a second later, "Angel, I swear you are like one giant baby yourself. I *told*you I left it in your bedroom! You're getting so old you're suffering memory loss!"

She giggled after a while, "shut up, you big wuss!"

Then her eyes lit up and she turned her back to the group, "put him on," she said excitedly, her voice quietening. "… Hello! How's my little prince, huh? Awww, I bet you miss me, is daddy looking after – Angel! I wanted longer than that! … Well, Okay. No, we're off to the Bronze. … It's a Sisky - we have to wait until there's a full moon… No, there's one tomorrow."

She continued to listen to the voice the others were deprived of for a few minutes, "not at all, I only have to see it when it does it's disappearing act for Buffy… Yeah, that's the idea." She sighed, "give Connor a kiss for me, Okay? … Yes, I'll call you first thing in the morning… Love you too, bye!"

Angel stared at the phone in his hand. He had finally got the courage to tell her how he felt… Okay, so it wasn't exactly brave of him to tell her over the phone or while she was in the Scoobies vicinity, but he couldn't help it the words just spilt out so naturally.

Only, it obviously didn't come across right. He thought it over in his mind.

It had gone well at first, he had been relieved she was okay – he hadn't been able to get through to her phone for ages, and then when he had and she'd apologised for not ringing, he'd finally managed to discover what she had done with Connor's favourite toy. They'd joked and then he'd let her talk to Connor, following her telling him about the demon situation. Then he'd told her.

"Cordelia – I… I love you," he remembered being amazed at his courage, and was squeezing the phone tightly waiting for a reply.

"Love you too, bye!" And she was gone.

For a second he had thought the impossible had happened, and she had fallen for him too. But as the dial tone echoed in his ear and he repeated her casual voice in his head, he realised she had been doing the 'I love you' as a friend thing… again.

He put the phone down and shifted Connor in his arms, "will I ever get a break?"

His response was a smile and a giggle.

"Yeah, I hope so, too."

* * *

Cordelia turned back to the group after she ended the call, "sorry about that. He's a bugger for that protective bullshit." She rolled her eyes, "and if he couldn't get through on the cell, why didn't he ring your landline?" She shrugged, and Giles, Xander and Spike couldn't help but notice her cleavage as the material sagged around the chest area. Willow even caught Tara looking slightly flushed but she just smiled back understandably.

"He still hasn't got the whole concept of phones. He hates the cell phone I brought him, but I mean, it's better for him to have it so we can reach him, right?"

"Yeah, cell phones are good for that reason," Dawn turned to Buffy, "can I have one?"

Buffy snorted, "can you really see me going for that one?"

"So, Angel's a giant baby and a big wuss," Xander grinned, "but we all knew that already."

"Oh, *yeah*!" Spike agreed, "he's one big poof alright."

"Hey! Best friend standing right here! And I'll inform you I can do the protective bullshit thing too. And you should know by now, Xander Harris, that I'm predominantly good with insults! And from that incident earlier, I can kick ass too!"

Xander opened his mouth to retort, but Giles broke in first, "children, please. I don't want to have to chaperone you tonight, I have things to be getting on with."

Cordy grinned openly at Giles, "you sound just like me with Wes and Gunn! They bicker all the time, but they love each other really."

Xander crossed his arms and smirked at the seer, "you trying to say something, Cordy?"

"In your dreams, on the moon, when hell freezes over – that do it for you?" She winked.

He grinned more sincerely at her, "just about." He looked at Anya at his side, "see, baby, you've nothing to worry about there."

"Giles seemed, I dunno… different." Cordelia commented as she strolled with Willow, Dawn and Tara to the Bronze. Xander, Anya, Spike and Buffy were a couple of steps in front.

"Giles? Different?" Willow laughed, "you spend three years away from us, Xander's actually become something that resembles human, Spike is now on our side, Buffy has grown up more than the rest of us put together, and you say Giles is different?"

"You couldn't get more consistency from that guy," Tara added with a smile.

Cordelia shrugged, "the changes in some of you are obvious -" She grinned at Dawn, "take Dawn for instance. Last time I saw you, young lady, you were cowering away in the corner of the room and never said a word to me. You were a shy little kid, but now you're this young woman who is following in her sister's footsteps and facing the world full on."

Continuing, Cordy grinned, "but the changes in you guys are so obvious it's not worth mentioning – you all grew up, matured. But Giles, I'm not sure. He came across… well, the same old Giles accept for the look in his eye. He seemed… happy. Proud."

It was Tara's turn to shrug, "he's watched you lot all mature into what you are today, he played a part in that. He's right to be proud."

Cordy nodded, "totally."

"Hey, that includes you too!" Willow gave her a half-smile, "you've grown up too, Cordy. As well as become a demon!" They all giggled. "I guess I never really noticed us all changing, 'cause I was there and it happened so slowly I didn't notice. But now you've pointed it out, I can see old-tweed-loving Giles as the stuck up librarian in my mind and I know that he's not the same guy he was back then." Willow said, thinking about it.

"Still loves tweed, though." Dawn said, smirking at them.

"Have Wesley and Angel changed as much as you have?" Willow asked, curious.

Cordelia thought about it, "Wes is a man now," she laughed, "and he doesn't run screaming from demons. Looks quite cute when he's being all macho-man, actually. He's definitely changed. And for the better."

"Did you ever have a thing with him, 'cause if my memory serves -"

Cordy groaned before Willow could finish, "no. No way. He's like my big brother. Just eeeew!"

Willow looked surprised, "but -"

"But we had a thing for each other in the past?" Cordelia shook her head, "maybe. And I can still say he's cute and talk to him about anything, so he's not really my brother. But, yet he is. He's family."

"And Angel?" Tara enquired.

Cordelia's beaming smile was blinding, "you would not believe what he's like now," she told Willow. "He's… he's amazing. He's not broody-vampire guy anymore – although I still love to tease him by calling him broody-boy – he laughs, he tells jokes. He has the nicest smile when he's not hiding it away."

Willow and Tara shared a glance, but Cordelia didn't notice their meaningful looks.

Cordelia giggled, "you should have seen him this morning, I was trying to tell him I had to come here, but he was paying no attention to what I was saying until I assured him I *had* noticed his new pale blue shirt – pale blue! Can you believe it! I didn't even buy it for him. Next thing I know he'll be wearing pink suits." She smiled to herself, "Lorne would *love* that one!"

"Who's Lorne?"

"A demon. Karaoke-mad demon. He can read people when they sing." Unexpectedly she burst out laughing and even the four in front turned back to see what had happened.

Buffy walked back to them, "what's so funny?"

Dawn shrugged, Tara and Willow giving similar replies.

"Oh… My God! You're going to laugh your ass off at this!" Cordelia sniggered, "Angel did karaoke."

"*Angel* sung?" Spike's face turned into a pained expression. "Thank God I wasn't there to see that!"

Cordelia was nodding at him, "I know, my ear drums were bursting at the time, but afterwards – when Angel wasn't about – we would laugh our heads off thinking about it! It was *so* funny – the look on his face when he was singing."

"What did he sing?" Buffy asked, cocking her head to one side as the seer laughed to her-self again. "Cordy?"

"Mandy."

At this point most of the group were looking amused.

"What's Mandy?" Dawn asked, oblivious.

Snorting down her laughter rather unattractively, Cordy began a verse, surprised to find a few of the others joining in and accompanying her, "Oh Mandy, well you came and you gave without taking, Oh Mandy, you kissed me and stopped me from shaking, and I need you today, Oh Mandy –"

Dawn held her hands up in the air, "Okay, guys! That's quite enough," she looked nervously about – people were beginning to stare.

Dawn rolled her eyes as they all giggled at her.

"Embarrassed to be seen with us oldies, Dawnie?" Xander teased.

"Embarrassed to be seen with you," Cordelia said, smiling at her ex so he knew she didn't really mean it. She swung an arm around Dawn as they continued on their way, "I know your pain, sweetie!"

"Hey, that's a cool locket," Dawn started, reaching up to Cordelia's neck to get a closer look, "such a pretty pattern – does it mean anything?"

It did in fact. Angel had told her about it when he finally found the chance to give it to her.

Cordelia touched the locket before Dawn got her hands on it and her fingers automatically played with it, "it was a present from Angel."

"Looks pretty expensive," Buffy commented, her voice not giving away any emotion.

Cordy swallowed, one minute she was laughing and joking with them all, now she was thrown unexpectedly into tension. They hadn't seemed to notice that she was being overprotective of the locket though.

"Can I try it on?" Dawn asked, looking hopefully at Cordelia.

Cordy smiled, realising they would find out eventually… true, she wished that it would be from Angel, but maybe she could explain things a little bit better.

She carefully unhooked the chain from around her neck and thrust it at Dawn, "sure. But if you lose it, you have Angel to answer to!"

As expected, Dawn unclasped the lock and opened the locket, revealing the tiny picture. "Cute kid. Who is he?" She asked, not putting much thought into it as the teen moved to put the locket on.

"That's Connor." Cordy grinned.

"Yeah, you talked about him on the phone," Tara remembered. "Is he related?" She raised an eyebrow.

Cordelia shrugged, but continued to smile proudly, "he's Angel's son."

The whole gang seemed to stop dead in their tracks.

"And kind of a relative. Not blood, but I like to call him my nephew – the pattern on the locket, according to Angel, means 'Aunt'," Cordelia's smile seemed to widen.

"Angel has a son?" Buffy asked, her eyes full of bewilderment.

"How is that even possible? I mean –" Willow was shaking her head trying to comprehend it all.

"We've put it down to a miracle." Cordelia paused, considering how to tell them about the mother, "and you'll be repeating that question when I tell you just who Connor spent nine months in."

Xander shrugged, "hit us with it, already. I think after that blow, we can take about anything."

"Darla. Darla's Connor's mother." She locked eyes with Spike before the blonde vampire could even respond, "and yes, Spike, THAT Darla."

"No." Buffy crossed her arms and looked pointedly at Cordy. "You're wrong. Darla's dead. I saw her turn to dust."

Cordelia looked sympathetically at Buffy, "this is where the whole miracle thing comes in." Then she thought about it some, "well, actually, this is where lawyers come in. Wolfram and Hart – this *really* dodgy law firm – brought her back, as human. Sent Angel wacko and he fired us all when Drusilla turned up and decided she liked Darla better as a vamp. Anyway, Angel slept with Darla, had this empathy thing, and came back to the team – after *much* grovelling. Then *wham*, nine months later we have a huge – and I mean huge – testy pregnant sire of Angel's to deal with."

"My family tree is getting more and more fucked up. Where's Darla now?"

"She killed herself – thank god! I was this close," Cordelia squeezed two fingers together for emphasis, "to doing the job myself… So then we were left with the cutest baby in the entire world!"

"I personally echo that." Dawn said, looking at the picture in the locket again, "he's adorable!"

The others gathered round. Buffy stayed where she was, trying to acknowledge what she had just heard.

"Total cuteness," Anya declared. "Xander, I want one!"

Xander shuffled away from the group, alarmed.

"Awww! He's got Angel's nose!" Willow giggled, before being moved away by Spike so he could get a look, murmuring something about being brothers.

"Cordelia, Pet, I think Angel got you the wrong locket," Spike stated after a moment, an amused look on his face.

Cordy frowned, and on her request, Dawn handed the locket back to the seer. Inspecting the picture, then the locket, Cordelia looked back at Spike, "what do you mean?"

"Love, that design doesn't mean 'Aunt'."

Cordelia blinked, confused. She fingered the locket, a hurt expression appearing on her face. "It doesn't?"

Spike smirked, "nope."

"Well, what does it mean?" Buffy asked, moving beside Cordelia and having a look at the locket herself. The slayer had to admit, the kid was cute… and the locket *did* look terribly expensive.

"It mean's 'mom'."

"*What*?" Cordelia and Buffy chorused. It was an oddity to the rest to see the two in union over something.

* * *

"You have to go to sleep, sweetheart," Fred cooed at Connor.

She sighed unsuccessfully when all she got was a gurgle, "you're missing mommy, aren't you little guy?" Fred asked sympathetically as she wondered around the foyer, Connor tucked comfortably in a blanket in her arms.

He was refusing to go to sleep. Fred privately calculated it was because Cordy hadn't been there to read him a little story goodnight and tuck him in. He'd been awake ever since Angel had left on patrol -

"What did you just say?"

Fred jumped so much, for a split second she feared she had lost her grip on the baby.

"Darn it, Angel!" Shifting the little one in her arms, she glared at the vampire, "Cordy's right y'know, we oughta get you a bell or something."

"Sorry. I didn't mean –" He stopped, remembering why Fred was trying to change the topic of conversation. "What were you saying?"

She smiled at him looking slightly puzzled, "what was I saying about what?"

"Don't give me that innocent look, Fred. I heard what you said, the mommy thing?"

She blinked, "what mommy thing?" She looked down at Connor, "honestly, Connor, mommy's out of town for a few of hours and daddy goes wacko."

Angel couldn't help but smirk as she returned her naïve gaze to him. "You just did it again," he stated.

This time her confusion was real, and all she could produce in response was a uncomprehending shaking head.

Angel let the pitch of his voice escalate, "mommy's out of town for a few hours and daddy goes wacko," he mimicked, finishing with a bemused look.

Fred's mouth dropped - did I actually say that, she wondered, oops! "who said that? I never said that!"

Angel gently took Connor from her arms, "sure, Fred."

Connor giggled at his father, "so, what do we think of going to get some sleepy time?" He asked, looking down at his son.

"He's a night owl, like you," Fred said as she watched the two head upstairs, "which well, is kinda understandable and all, you being a vampire, creature of the night, so of course he's –"

"- Fred?" Angel turned and looked down at his friend.

"Yeah?" She asked as she looked back up at him.

"You're spot on." Angel looked at his son, "he misses his mommy. And so do I."

Fred's mouth dropped, "I knew it! *Kyrumption*!" She exclaimed.

Angel beamed, nodding his head in agreement, mostly to keep the young woman happy, "kyrumption."

Fred's eyes grew wider, "and… and *Moira*?"

Angel turned and began up the stairs again, "and Moira," he laughed.

Fred stood shocked for a few seconds before letting out a squeal, "I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!" Suddenly she was jogging up the stairs after him, "I want details, Angel! Details!"

Cordelia glanced once more at the design on her locket, "are you *sure*?"

"Like, *really* sure?" Buffy asked, both girls looking at Spike expectantly.

"Ninty-nine percent *really* sure," the blonde vampire replied, lighting up a cigarette.

"And the one percent?" Willow urged.

Spike took the locket from Cordelia, looking at it closely, "ninty-nine percent of me is sure that this says 'mom'… one percent of me is leaning towards the possibility that this says 'tease'. I always had a problem telling those two apart."

"With Cordelia, it's more likely to be the latter –" Xander quickly put his hand over his mouth, looking sheepishly at Cordy, he shrugged, "sorry, we kinda made up didn't we?"

"We'll make up after I've got you back for the whole let's-scare-Cordy-the-first-time-we've-seen-her-in-three-years incident." She turned back to Spike. "So either Angel's labelled me 'mom' or he went cheapskate on me and got me a locket declaring I'm a tease?"

Spike cocked his head to one side, inspecting the said object some more, "I dunno, it could say 'provide'."

Anya let out an exasperated sigh, "oh, for God's sake! The way he's going it could say a million things!"

Spike turned the locket to one side, "hey, this way round it say's 'three-leg'! How'd you like that, Love?" He grinned wickedly at Cordy, who moved to snatch the locket back, but Anya got there first.

"Lettme see that! What is it? Chinese? Celtic? Latin drawings? Japanese?" Taking it in her hand, she cried, "ah-ha!" She folded the piece of metal over in her palm once before handing it back to Cordelia, "it say's 'mom' alright. Now, can we get a move on? With all these interruptions we're not gonna get to the Bronze til next century!"

Buffy got in her path; her eye's narrowed suspiciously, "what percentage?"

Anya blinked, "excuse me?"

"How sure are you *exactly*?" Cordelia asked, moving beside the slayer.

Ayna rolled her eyes, "a hundred and twenty percent do it for ya?"

"Stop wigging over it and call him," Dawn suggested, fed up of watching her two role models brooding about the locket over the thumping music. Neither girl wanted to believe what Anya and Spike had settled on. They were practically shouting their foolish reasoning's to each other… sitting next to the stage with a metal band playing had been a bad idea.

"I can't do that!" Cordy said, shaking her head vigorously, "it probably *does* say 'Aunt' and Spike was trying to stir things up… and Anya, well, does she *really* know the meanings of ancient Celtic symbols?"

"It was thoughtful of him to get you it – what with the design and everything – that's in fashion now, right?" Willow asked, now the possessor of the locket. She folded the object over in her hands before opening it and taking another peek at Connor.

Cordelia had to grin, "Wills, you've turned into a little fashion expert! – And, by the way, that top is gorgeous!"

Willow grinned back widely, "thanks, Cordy! You have no idea how much that means to me… after being the one you always insulted back in high school for my choice of outfits!"

"What about me!?" Buffy suddenly piped up, "you always used to abuse my outfits too!" She jumped of her stool and twirled around in her sexy black favourite slaying outfit for Cordelia – and no, she did not dress up especially for Cordelia's arrival, she just wanted to look good, nothing wrong with that, she thought, looking expectantly at Cordy, "- what ya think?"

Cordelia was shaking her head, "all the pieces of clothes are cool, but not as an ensemble – as I say to Angel, don't think black on black, add some colour! Baby blue would suit you, 'cause it would bring out your eyes and provide a contrast for your hair. And you –" she turned to Dawn in her brightly coloured outfit. "Technicolor much? Borrow some of your sister's black clothing and add it sparingly to your wardrobe."

"So, still discussing the locket?" Xander asked coming up behind them with a sigh, himself, Spike, Anya and Tara had all got tired of the whole deal with the locket and had cautiously moved themselves onto another table, explaining that table was a little cramped with eight of them around it.

"Actually," Buffy said with a frown, "somehow we got onto fashion…"

"It was Willow's fault," Dawn said accusingly, smiling at the redhead.

"Well, this is one conversation that I –"

Cordelia had tuned out Xander, and promptly interrupted him with a shrill; "Uh-oh!"

They turned to Cordelia, and tried to see what she was looking at and referring to, but she seemed to be focusing on something they couldn't see.

"Cordelia, what is it?" Xander asked, concerned.

"Vision –" She glanced upwards, watching something hidden to the rest of them. "There's a girl, and a few vampires –"

"Whoa!" Xander grabbed onto Cordy's waist as she began to float upwards, "you can stay right where you are, Missy!"

He held her down to her stool as the vision continued, "they're playing with her in some alley… it's familiar, but…" she blinked, and the room came back into focus.

"Should you call Angel?" Willow asked, being helpful and tugging Cordelia's cell phone from her purse.

The seer was shaking her head 'no', "it's happening here. In Sunnydale." She looked to Buffy, "can you –"

Buffy stood once again, "- of course. Where?"

"HEY! Alexander Harris! Get your arms off of her right now!" Anya screeched, approaching the group from behind.

"Oops," Xander immediately let go of Cordelia's waist, only hesitating for a second to make sure she wasn't about to float away.

"It's not what you think, Anya," Cordelia started, twirling around on her stool and standing before the ex-demoness, "Xander was just stopping me from making a scene."

"Ha! Like I'm gonna believe –" The angry woman began, shaking her finger at Cordelia.

"- I was having a vision, Xander was stopping me from floating, okay?" Cordy barked, with a glare, she added; "we don't have time for this now!" Marching towards the exit, she called back to them, "everyone get their coats!"

"Here?" Spike looked around, "Pet, I hate to tell you this, but there's no vamps and no girl. Sure you weren't having a day-dream?"

Cordelia met him with an icy glare, "I'm not in the mood, Spike. Make one more crack and you're getting a smack."

Spike laughed, "go ahead, Love, but remember, you're one of the ones that I can hit back."

Cordelia smirked, "Angelus taught you to fight?" She asked out of the blue.

Spike blinked, "yeah –"

"Well, I think I got the better deal, 'cause *Angel* taught me, and we all know who the better vamp is, don't we?"

"Angel taught you how to fight?" Buffy asked, stunned.

"He also taught me some of his trade moves and he guaranteed that I was the only one he'd shared them with –" She stopped abruptly, looking over at Buffy, the memories of the slayer going off to train with her best friend flickered through her mind, "but obviously, that didn't include you, 'cause, y'know, he would've showed them to you and –"

"- He never showed them me," Buffy butted in, trying to hide her disappointment.

"If you had had more time together then I'm sure…" Cordy trailed off, her gaze turning to further down the alley.

"What is it?" Spike stepped forward, straining his hearing, trying to pick up on what had got her attention.

Cordelia briefly glanced around the alley they were in, "we're in the wrong place," she breathed, fear growing in her eyes.

"I knew it!" Spike murmured as Cordelia took off sharply down the alley, the slayer and the slayerettes quickly following at a high pace.

But they didn't go far, after reaching the top end of the alley, Cordelia led them in a sharp turn to the left and then slipped through a hole in a battered fence, bringing them into another alley. This one was darker and filled with heaps of rubbish and knocked over rubbish bins. And at the other end, three figures were silhouetted against a street lamp.

"There," Cordelia nodded at the other end, where three figures were silhouetted against light from a street lamp.

* * *

"Oh, *yeah*!" Spike cheered, just loud enough for them all to hear, but so the vampires weren't notified of their arrival. He looked to Buffy, "may I? 'Cause I'm in a butt kicking mood!"

Buffy rolled her eyes, "go ahead, Spike," he was already halfway down the alleyway, "go ahead." She looked an amused Cordelia in the eye, "I know it's my sacred duty and all, but if vampires are turning good and killing each other, I'm not about to start complaining!"

They turned their attention to Spike, who had already got stuck into the fight - the girl, it seemed was long gone into the night, terrified for her life.

"Umm, Buffy, you think you should help him?" Willow nudged the slayer five minutes later, when Spike hadn't actually dusted either vamp yet. "He's kinda, umm, well, lacking."

"Lacking?" Anya scoffed, "looks like he's struggling to me."

Buffy pouted, "it's probably just a tactic."

They all inhaled as a silhouetted stake swished through the air and Spike only just dodged it.

Cordelia exhaled, making a face as Spike suffered a blow to his face, "if Angel ever uses that tactic, I'm kicking his vampire butt until -"

"- You think I should.?" Buffy nodded at the fight.

"Hell, yeah!" Tara and Dawn chorused, the latter giving her sister a shove forward.

Buffy still looked doubtful as she glanced back at them, "he'll kill me later for helping."

"Buffy! If you don't get your ass up there right now, then I will," Cordelia paused and pouted, "and he actually *can* kill me later for helping." She added, remembering Spike's earlier threat of hurting her.

The gang watched for another five minutes before the slayer and Spike actually managed to finish off the two vampires. Then they made their way up the alley to an injured Spike and a panting Buffy. All glad that it was over, as they had been at the stage where they were discussing joining in with the fight as extra pairs of fists.

"So, are we paying Giles a visit?" Xander asked monotony as he helped Buffy off the floor.

Cordelia lead the way out of the alley as Buffy gave Xander a 'what-do-you-think?' look. "I knew it in high school and I know it now - you guys attract weirdness."

Spike snorted, "look who's talking. - You lead us to it, Love. And a warning of how indestructible they were might've been useful."

"Wait for it." Buffy murmured to Xander.

"And, by the way," the bleached head turned back in Buffy's direction, "I could've handled it."

Cordelia and Buffy shared a look of understanding; all menpires were the same - they thought they didn't need any help. ever.

A sleepy-eyed Cordelia opened one eye and slowly inspected the room she was in with confusion before it came back to her. She was at Giles'. in fact, they all were, Tara and Willow were sitting on opposite sides of the sofa looking rather uncomfortable, but still managing to sleep none the less. Spike had chosen a chair in the corner of the room and his head was resting in a musty book he must have been reading. Giles and Dawn were the only others awake, they were talking on the other side of the room by a sleeping Anya.

She noticed Xander waking up in the chair next to her. "Awww, man," Cordy let her head loll backwards, "my neck is killing me!"

"That's what you get for sleeping in that position," Xander informed her with a smile, rubbing his own neck, "been a long time since those high school days when you sleep in a chair or with your head on a desk, huh?"

Standing up, stretching and giving Giles and Dawn a smile across the room, Cordelia only answered her ex with with three words which lead him to wonder; "not so long."

Cordy stopped halfway across the room and gave Giles a hopeful smile, "please tell me you have coffee?"

"He has coffee," a female voice confirmed behind her. Turning, Cordelia's eyes met the blonde slayer. She was carrying a tray full of mugs.

Buffy nodded at the mug next to a pitcher of milk, "I figured you'd be a coffee-girl, but I wasn't sure how you took it."

Cordelia dived for her mug, "right now, black and strong is heaven." Silently thanking Buffy with a smile, she turned back to Giles, "sorry about falling asleep on you, Giles, as Wes always says, I last a good four hours before my eyes start drooping, then I'm no good whatsoever."

"Don't apologise, Cordelia, from past expectations of you, I must admit, you lasted a good three hours on what I'd put you down for." He took his tea graciously from Buffy.

"Yeah, but I bet you didn't close your eyes once," his guilty look confirmed it, and she laughed, "Wes is the same - I gotta start drinking tea, 'cause I just know that's the answer!"

"You get late nights in LA too?" Xander asked with surprise.

"Demon fighting isn't exactly a day job, Xander," Cordy rolled her eyes. "You have thought you'd have figured that out by now." She glanced at the clock, "I guess now would be a good time to call Angel, Connor's usually awake by this time."

"Which reminds me, we never got to the bottom of the whole vampire reproducing thing," Buffy said, her eyes briefly looking at Cordelia's locket.

"We kinda got distracted, huh," Cordy said with a smile, pulling out her cell phone.

Giles was looking between the two, "vampire's reproducing?"

"And we're not talking about siring," Buffy a gleam in her eye, as confusing as it all was, seeing Giles reaction was bound to be highly amusing.

Dawn looked seriously at her sister, "he's gonna have kittens!" She said, completely deadpan.

Cordy smiled at the interaction, she waved her cell phone at them, "no reception - can you tell this town has it in for me?" She asked with a wink, "I'm going to go outside, wonder about, see if that helps."

"You'll miss quite an amusing scene." Xander said, knowingly.

Cordelia grinned, remembering everyone's reactions from the night before, "you guys were amusing enough for me. Besides, I'm sure I'll hear the reaction from outside."

Giles was looking suspicious; "you are actually scaring me at this point."

Connor was shoved into Wesley's arms before the ex-watcher was even aware of the shrill ring of the phone. Lorne joined his side and they watched with amusement as the vampire began shuffling through the pockets of his leather coats that were hanging in his wardrobe.

Lorne let out a low whistle, "I had no idea he owned that many. hey, Angelcakes! - Try the pocket that's ringing!" Angel hesitated his search for one whole second to throw Lorne a dirty look.

A triumphant Angel finally found the phone and held it up for all to see before putting it to his hear. "Hello?"

His voice was only answered by another sharp ring in his ear and both Lorne and Wesley tried to stifle their laughter as Angel glared at them, "don't *ever* tell her I just did that!" He warned, before looking back down at the phone and pressing the green call button.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Angel!"

An instant smile was plastered on the vampire's face and the tense way that he'd been holding his body instantly relaxed, "hey," he said back, a lot deeper than he'd planned. "How are things on the Hellmouth?"

"Good, actually, if you can believe that. I told them about Connor." She sounded quite pleased with herself.

"Oh," his first thought was how they all took it, he hoped they didn't put it against him and most of all, he hoped they hadn't bothered Cordelia with too many questions about it.

"They took it well, except for Giles. Dawn, Buffy and Xander are telling him now so I'll have to let you know how that one goes later."

"So they know. that Darla -"

"Yeah, they know she's the mother. Not to bothered about that though, I think we had a longer discussion on your singing."

Angel groaned, "Please tell me you didn't -"

He could almost see her mischievous smile, "oh, I *so* did! Spike's vowed to haunt you with 'Mandy' for as long as your eternal lives last. Do you wanna know *why* they didn't get in a tizzy about Darla?"

"Why?" Angel asked, turning away from Wes who was trying to tell him he wanted to talk to Cordelia.

"'Cause they got distracted by the cuteness of Connor and my locket. Spike especially."

"Wait. Spike? *Spike* Spike?"

"Well at least I'm not the only one who didn't know about the chip. - Which I'll tell you about when I get back, all you need to know is Spike helps Buffy and co. these days and is non-toxic to humans."

"Oh," uh-oh, more like it, Angel thought, not interested in Spike's recent changes, but in certain elements of their past - Please God; tell me Spike has forgotten the random ancient Celtic symbols I told him about.

Angel swallowed a hard lump that was growing in his throat. he didn't want her to find out like this. "It seems he's taken on the role of big brother," Cordy informed him.

Angel perked up, was that all? "Well, he is, I guess."

"Awww, I'll tell him you said that - he'll be touched."

"Angel! Let me talk to her for God's sake!" Wesley butted in and Cordelia laughed in Angel's ear. Connor was shoved back at Angel and the phone was only saved from being dropped by an extra pair of hands.

"Toots! How ya doing'?" Lorne asked cheerfully, ignoring Wesley's annoyed looks.

"I'm great, Lorne, how 'bout you?"

"Fabulicious!"

She laughed, "My boys doing Okay?"

"Fine, although I'm quite concerned with the nasty looks two of them are giving me right now."

"And Fred?"

"Great, she's out Taco-ing it with Gunn. Wes is desperate to talk to you, babes, I better put him on - See you when you get back!"

"Bye Lorne!"

Wesley snatched the cell phone from Lorne, he glared between him and Angel, "about time!"

He pressed the phone to his ear, "hey Cordy," He said, smiling instantly, knowing she was probably listening intently to their frivolities and finding it highly amusing.

"Hey, Wes! I'm glad you're there in fact, 'cause not only am I missing you, but I need a favour?" She asked hopefully.

"Cordy, you already know I'm going to say yes," he told her pointedly.

"Okay, but you can't tell Angel 'cause he's Mr. Worry-pants already with this demon thing that I'm here for going on." She continued before he had a chance to agree. "- Last night I had a vision of some vamps and a girl in Sunnydale, we went to check them out, and Spike and Buffy had a little trouble killing them - to put it lightly, they were whacked by the time the dust settled. No ordinary vamps. We we're researching all night and we got nothing. Giles checked up on some prophecies and I thought maybe it's worth you checking out Angel's scroll prophecy thingy, 'cause the visions *are* for him after all!"

Wesley nodded, "sure, I can do that. Any particular -?" Suddenly he was aware of Angel's gaze on him from across the room, and he realised that if Cordy wanted to keep this from Angel, then he'd better watch his wording. He swallowed, "lullaby you want me to sing to Connor?"

Cordelia giggled, "nice cover, Wes. The only thing Buffy and Spike said that they were stronger and seemed to be one step ahead; they only won 'cause they were more experienced fighters. And in my vision, through the girls fear, I didn't feel the usual bloodlust. they weren't hungry, they were just playing with her. I didn't think anything of it as the time 'cause vampires are evil and do all shorts for kicks."

Wesley nodded, "okay. Nothing else?"

"Not at the moment, no."

He was reminded of the reason she was there, "you're facing this Sisky demon tonight?"

"Yeah, full moon glaring and all; should be fun - like the old days."

Wes grimaced, "I don't remember anything fun about it."

Cordelia laughed, "I guess I better get back and have some breakfast. Give Connor a kiss for me, K? - Oh, and can you repeat something to Angel for me? He'll know what it's about."

"OK, what is it?"

"Say Spike may be a novice with ancient Celtic symbols, but Anya's slightly more knowledgeable in that area. That's about it! - I'll ring you later, K? Bye!"

Hanging up himself, Wesley looked at Angel, who looked like he was doing some short of pout. "I wanted to talk again," he complained.

Wes shrugged, "she had to go. But she wanted me to give you a message."

Angel lit up, "yeah?"

"She said that while Spike's a novice, Anya's more knowledgeable when it comes to ancient Celtic symbols."

Angel swallowed, "oh."

"You Okay, Sweetcheeks?" Lorne asked, concerned, as they watched the vampire pale - if that was even possible. "You look like you're gonna hurl."


	2. Chapter 2

"So," Willow took a bite of her sandwich, chewed and swallowed, leaving Buffy waiting for her to finish what she was saying patiently. "What do you think of Cordelia?"

Buffy shrugged, "she's changed a lot. I don't know what to think."

"Oh."

"Oh?" Buffy raised an eyebrow.

"You seemed to be getting along really well with her. Like the whole bonding over demon slayage -"

"- That was not bonding, that was me agreeing with her!" Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but when was the last time *that* happened?" Willow pointed out. "You were *so* bonding with her. - And what about the whole 'Aunt' slash 'Mom' locket thing? You two seemed to be as one with that one as well."

"Well I can't help it if it's highly unlikely that Angel gave her a locket with 'Mom' on it can I? - And I can't help it if she feels exactly the same!"

"Highly unlikely, huh?" Willow looked sadly at Buffy, "how would you know?"

Buffy shook her head, "what are you talking about?"

"Buffy, we haven't seen Cordelia in three years, and now we have, neither of us is denying that she's changed. But we've only seen her to a certain extent. We don't know what she's like with her family."

The slayer blinked, "you think of them as a family? Angel, Cordelia and the baby?"

"Along with Wesley, Gunn, Fred and," her nose wrinkled as she tried to remember who she had missed out, "Lorne the karaoke guy. It sounds as if they're all family, you just have to listen of how Cordelia talks about them to see that."

Buffy understood what her friend was trying to tell her, "so, you're saying that when she's with Connor, she could be exactly that. His Mom."

Willow nodded, "if the lockets anything to go by, Angel certainly thinks so."

"But what does that *mean*? Angel thinks of Cordelia as the mother of his child." Buffy bit her bottom lip, "what does that say about *them*, Angel and Cordelia?"

Spike came up behind the two, just catching the last part of their conversation. "It could mean nothing, Pet." The two jumped and turned to see him take a seat behind them. Half-heartedly, they both twisted their seats round so that they were opposite the vampire. The blonde vampire got comfortable; "maybe Cordelia's just good with the kid and Angel figured Connor was going to need a mother figure, and who better than his best friend who loves the kid as much as he does."

"Or?" Buffy prompted, not sure whether she would be bothered or not by what she knew was going to come next.

"Or Angel and his seer are doing the nasty and she really *is* Connor's mother, and the whole Darla thing's a cover up 'cause the Poof didn't want you getting your panties in a twist."

"Yeah, Spike," a fourth voice spoke up, as Xander walked in, "they decided to make up a really far-fetched story which we were bound to believe." Xander rolled his eyes, plonking himself down next to Willow.

Spike smirked, "well, we're believing it, aren't we? I see none of you questioning it, probably because it's so unbelievable, that we're believing it!"

Xander and Willow just stared at him blankly, while Buffy considered it. "It does kind of make sense. Not the way he put it, but. Darla coming back to life, getting turned, and then two vampire's conceiving a human child - Giles said it was impossible and refused to believe it when we told him, *until* Cordelia came in and clarified the story. Because why should we doubt her?"

"And why would she make it up?" Willow crossed her arms.

"Because she's hiding the truth." Buffy said simply.

"Why? Cordelia's never been one with tact -"

"But she's changed! As you said, Wills, we're not denying it - hell, we can' t 'cause it's so flippin' obvious!"

"Buffy!" Xander scolded, "it's nonsense! They wouldn't make that up - they wouldn't need too. They would tell us the truth. If Cordelia was the kid's biological mother, why all the crap with the locket -"

"Because they're playing up the story!"

"Buffy, I seriously think you need to get a grip. I'm sorry for what this mess is doing to you emotionally, but he's out of your life now. And from what I can take of it, he's pretty much got his own!" Willow swallowed, suddenly realising that came out a bit too strong. Her eyes flickered with distress, "I'm sorry, Buffy, I didn't -"

"No, Willow," Buffy smiled, "I think I needed you to say that. He *is* out of my life. He has been for a long time and I never even realised it. But with Cordelia here. it just made me think is all. A part of me will always love him and be jealous of anyone that gets to see him everyday and be called the mother of his child, but another part of me - a *growing* part of me," Buffy laughed, "- you probably wont believe this, but, actually thinks they'd make a cute couple. And that's the same part that knows how much better things are the way they are today."

~*~

"I've lost ya, man!" Gunn frowned, "we're going to Sunnydale because some Anya chick can read ancient Celtic symbols?" He started shaking his head, "you wanna break that down for me?"

"I wish I could but that's about all I understand myself," Lorne shrugged, "we're not going right away, though. Angel says he wants to wait until tomorrow morning when the battle with the demon Cordy's up against is over. Between you and me," Lorne leaned in, "I think it's got something to do with what's written on Cordelia's locket - it's the only thing I've seen with a Celtic symbol on."

Fred bounced over to the two, she glanced up at Gunn, "has he told you? Has he? Wes says we're going to Sunnydale!" She smiles excitedly.

"Yeah, Lorne just told me."

Fred gave them both a smug look, "I know what it's about too," she boasted.

Gunn crossed his arms, "Cordelia's locket." He told her triumphantly.

Fred gasped, "you *know*!"

Lorne laughed, "it was more of a guess, y'know with the 'Aunt' symbol on it and everything."

Fred bit her bottom lip and looked around, making sure no one else was around, leaning forward, she whispered; "it doesn't mean 'Aunt'. Angel told me."

Suddenly interested, the two guys came closer.

"What *does* it mean?" Gunn asked expectantly.

"I'll tell you, but like I said to Wes before I told him, you have to pretend you don't know," she took in a breath, too excited to wait for any replies, "it mean's 'Mom'," she confirmed, smiling, "Angel told me last night."

"Really?" Then Gunn frowned, "well, it figures, she *is* Connor's mom in many ways."

Lorne nodded an agreement, "certainly is."

It suddenly clicked in Gunn's head. "Only Cordy doesn't know does she?" He asked with a small smile, Fred shook her head, "the crafty vampire!"

"Only from what Wes told me, it sounds like the Anya girl told her. And Angel wants to go clear the air with Cordy and everybody else."

"Fred!" A voice boomed.

Fred jumped and looked about her. Angel had just entered the lobby.

"I didn't say a *word*," she hissed at the guys before heading over to Angel. "Yes, Angel?"

"You know about us all going to Sunnydale tomorrow?" He whispered to her.

She nodded in response.

"Well, I need to talk to you about it." He grasped her arm and lead up the stairs, ". urgently."

As soon as they walked into his and Connor's room, he turned to her. "She knows." He said, quite calmly, but his eyes were suddenly showing his true emotion - fear.

Fred nodded, "I gathered as much from Wes' ramblings about Celtic symbols."

"What am I going to do?" He asked, looking at her hopefully for instructions.

"Just tell her the truth - she's Connor's mom, and *then*," she gave him a small sly smile, "follow it up with Kyrumption and Moira!"

Angel seemed to be too worked up to take it in, "but what about the others - Giles, Xander." he threw his arms up in the air, "Buffy?"

Fred's eye's narrowed, "do they even matter?"

Angel blinked, "no, but they'll think -"

"It doesn't matter what they think. All that matters is that you tell Cordy the truth. All of it."

"But she'll probably be mad - about the locket thing and -"

"For God's sake, Angel!" Fred practically yelled, "she's probably honoured - whether she feels the same way you do about her or not! Get a grip! You're supposed to be a smooth talking, cool, calm vampire! And if you don't start using your head and being rationale, you're getting a kick in the jollies!"

After a long pause, and Fred getting her breath back, the vampire finally replied, "what happens tomorrow will change everything," he said honestly, "and it's either going to go the way I want it to, and make my life much better, or she's never going to want to speak to me again." He met her eyes, and Fred caught a glimpse of his fear again, "aren't I allowed to freak out right now?"

~*~

Cordelia laughed, "that's hilarious, Dawn!"

The younger girl smiled, "I know. But I said yes anyway."

Cordy's eyes nearly popped out of her head, "seriously? Oh. My. God! . Is he cute?"

Dawn raised an eyebrow back at her, "would I have said yes otherwise?"

Cordy collapsed in laughter, "what does Buffy think of this?"

Dawn's eyes clouded over, "she doesn't know. And you can't tell her."

Cordelia calmed down and leaned in, "why not?"

"She's got enough to worry about, she doesn't need the added bother of worrying about me dating. She's Buffy, and she'd find some way to kick up a fuss about it."

"She only wants to protect you, Dawn -"

"Do you not think I know that?"

Cordy lowered her eyes, "it's been a rough year for the both of you, and in her eyes you're the more vulnerable one - the one that she has to look after. She doesn't want you hurting anymore than you have already."

"You sound like Spike," Dawn commented, rolling her eyes.

The remark instantly made Cordy smile, "yeah? Never thought anyone would call me and Spike the same. So he knows about," Cordelia grinned wider, "*Gary*?"

"You and him are the only ones that know. - Since I told him he hasn't stopped teasing me. He made a few random comments in front of everyone before I threatened him, now he only does it when no one else is around."

Cordelia cocked her head to one side, "Spike actually did what you told him too." She shook her head disbelievingly, "I've been gone *waaaay* to long - What did you threaten him with?"

"I said I'd tell everyone how he feels about Buffy."

Cordy nearly chocked on thin air, "how he *feels* about Buffy?" She repeated.

Dawn nodded, "I don't know why everyone is so oblivious to it. I can see it loud and clear - must be the young and innocent view point kicking in."

Cordelia thought about it, "do you think. well, I mean, Buffy was pretty concerned about him when he was fighting the super-vamps last night - has Giles figured that out yet by the way?" Dawn shrugged, and Cordelia got back on track with the toss of her head, "do you think she might have feelings for him too?"

Again, Dawn shrugged, "sometimes I look at her and I know *exactly* what she 's thinking. But others, I haven't got a clue."

~*~

"Lorne, I need your help," Angel said, placing a rather large plastic bag in front of the green demon.

"Sure, sweetie. What do you need me to do?" Lorne asked, standing up and moving round the lobby desk.

Angel unravelled what was hiding in the bag, and Lorne's eyes sparkled in delight, "Oh, Angel!" He breathed, pleased at the sight, "this is well. it's a little *tacky*, but one of the best things you've ever got me - the *only* thing you've ever got me."

"It's not for you, Lorne."

"Oh."

Angel had never seen the demon look so disheartened, "what I mean is, it's yours to do whatever you want with -"

"- Which is pretty obvious, sweet-cheeks!"

Angel glared at Lorne, who quietened down waiting for the conditions he knew were going to come. "But one thing you have to do with it is take it to Sunnydale and get Cordy to sing to you."

"Now?"

"Now."

The demon picked up the microphone, "can't I give it a test run first?" He eyed the CDs that lay beside the control box.

"Lorne," Angel started, his voice in its warning tone.

"I thought we were all going tomorrow anyway - why can't I just go then?"

"'Cause I need to know how she feels about me before I can decide what to tell her tomorrow!" Angel practically barked.

Lorne wasn't fazed by the vampires shouting, he looked him in the eye, "and how do you feel about her?"

Angel blinked hard, twice, before he knew what to say. He opened his mouth, and let go of his emotions. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are -"

* * *

The gang were still researching at the Magic Shop, mainly they were waiting for the sun to fall so they could go and do a bit of hunting. Cordelia was looking forward to meeting the Sisky demon, actually, she wondered why seers where the ones singled out to be the only ones with the power to see them when they went into defensive mode.

Cordelia struggled to keep her eyes open, "I should've brought Angel's special coffee. Does the job wonderfully, no sleepy eyes at all."

"Angel has special coffee?" Buffy asked, flipping through a musty old book.

"Yeah, it all started when I ordered them in bean form, he wasn't happy about it but I told him to mush 'em."

Dawn lifted her head of the desk, interested, "and he mushed?"

"Yup, of course, I didn't mean literally with his bare hands. They went everywhere! But after that he got some shorta method for mushing them with this weird instrument in the kitchen. Makes it taste one hundred percent better and keeps you more awake than the regular stuff."

"You'll have to send us some."

"Sure thing." Cordelia flipped over another page. "This is pointless, Giles. There's zilch about freaked out vamps."

Giles let out a sigh, "you're right, Cordelia, I had hoped we would find something, but," he closed his book, "there's absolutely nothing."

"What? Could it be? Something Giles has failed to find? Somebody write the date down!" They all looked at Xander expectantly.

"Either you're running out of quips, Xan, or you're *really* tired." Cordy said, rolling her eyes, "that was just *baaaaad*."

Xander opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted by a loud banging on the door.

"I'll get it," Buffy mumbled, ungracefully falling out of her seat.

"I'll go to Willy's for you, Giles, try and get some information about those vamps." Spike said, making his way to the door after Buffy, picking up a blanket on his way so that he could make a dash to the closet sewer opening.

"Thank you, Spike. Any information you can dig up about the Sisky demon would be a great help too. Like where it's hiding –"

Buffy had opened the door and interrupted Giles with a yell of surprise, "great! Just what we need!" Quickly she reached out and yanked someone in a hat and trench coat inside. "Anything you wanna say before I kill your ass?" She asked, holding him up against the nearest wall.

The others now fully awake and alert jumped up from their seats and edged closer.

The person spoke from beneath the hat and pulled up trench coat, "sweetie, I really think you should put me down –"

Cordy blinked, and moved closer, no, it can't be! He wouldn't…

Spike was mad, who was this guy who thought he could talk to the slayer like that? He viciously grabbed the guy from Buffy, and in the process the hat fell off exposing a green face with red eyes and horns.

Spike got ready to shove the demon back up against the wall –

"Lorne!"

The demon blinked, and looked at Cordy, his eyes pleading, "hey sugar lips! Ya think you could call the attack off?"

In two steps Cordelia pried Spike's hand off Lorne who smiled at her thankfully.

Cordelia looked at Lorne and then at the other confused faces in the room, "everyone, meet Lorne. Lorne, meet the Scoobies."

"Karaoke demon-guy?" Tara asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lorne blinked and looked down at Cordy, "been talking about me, Princess?"

Cordy grinned, "only good things, Lorne."

"Heard you do quite a good Barry White?" Willow asked with a smile. She thought she could at least be friendly and make up for the rude greeting from Buffy and Spike.

Lorne grinned even wider. "I have a karaoke machine on the back of my bike!" He exclaimed, "wanna hear? I'm desperate to try it out!"

"Oh. No." Cordelia put her head in her hands, "*bike*? You borrowed Wes' motorcycle?"

Lorne smiled, "yeah, quite a little machine that."

Cordelia tried to keep her smile back, "you wore the pink helmet, didn't you?"

Lorne winked at her, "of course. It was a little tight on the horns, but I managed."

Giles had been left behind, "Wesley has a motorbike?"

"Yeah," Dawn was at the door, peering out, "it looks really cool – Can someone give me a ride on it later?"

"Sure, cutie pie! Could you bring in my machine for me? I really don't wanna have to go back out there with this ugly thing on," he said, pulling off his trench coat, Lorne revealed his bright pink suit. Dawn paused a second, taking in the sight before she dashed outside looking slightly amused. "You're going to have to have a word with that vampire, Princess, he wouldn't let me show off my suit when I wore it especially to go with the helmet!"

Cordy rolled her eyes, "I'm not surprised, Lorne. Inconspicuous much?"

The demon shrugged, "has a point I guess." Then he turned to the slayer, "so, you're Buffy?"

Buffy blushed, "yeah, that's me. Sorry about y'know the whole –" she made hand gestures to indicate pushing him against the wall.

"No problemo, Mi chica." He smiled back warmly.

Buffy and Cordelia both glared at Spike, who took a minute to latch on, "OH, right, yeah. Me too."

Lorne's eyes narrowed at the vampire, "let me see, blonde hair, leather, stance like Angel's…" his gaze shifted to Cordelia, "could it be the infamous Spike?"

Anya squealed in delight and clapped, "that's great! Do me!" She asked, obviously impressed my Lorne's ability to determine who someone was by limited information about them.

Lorne looked Anya up and down, "we'll you're not Willow, and I believe Dawn's the one bringing my baby in… so, I'm pretty much clueless."

Cordelia jumped in before Anya could show her disappointment, "ok, to make this quicker, Xander, Willow, Tara, Giles, Anya." She said, pointing at the corresponding people.

"Here ya go," Dawn said, entering with Lorne's bag.

"Thank you, my little sticky toffee pudding." The demon said, grasping the bad from the teen. "Right, who wants to sing first," he eyed the people up, "Cordelicious?"

The seer rolled her eyes, "nice try, Lorne." She folded her arms, "which brings about the question, why are you here?"

Lorne cocked his head to one side, "why do you think?"

"Ummm, could it possibly have something to do with a tall brooding vampire best friend and a Celtic symbol?"

Lorne nodded, "got it in one."

"So you're here to soften me up?"

"I'm here to make you sing," he responded, thrusting the microphone in her direction.

"No chance, *Lornailicious*!" She said, accompanying it with a death stare.

"Oooh," he put a hand to his heart, "that was a harsh one, babes."

"You're timings dreadful anyway, we're off to kick Sisky demon's ass the second the sun goes down." Spike said with a huff, plonking himself back in his seat. It seemed his idea of going to Willy's hand gone down the drain.

Lorne circled the sitting Spike, "getting some pent up frustration from you, m'dear, and you didn't even have to sing. What's up?"

Cordelia and Dawn shared a knowing look.

"Nothing is *up* you freaky demon," Spike spat, and Lorne was offended too much to even reply.

"Spike there's no reason to get all vicious to Lorne just because you have a stake up your arse," Cordelia retorted naturally defending her friend. She was amazed how much Sunnydale brought the bitch out in her.

"You watch what you say," Spike said, turning on her, "you I can hurt."

Buffy frowned, not liking the tone he used, "Spike! What is with you!?"

"His aura's gone bananas." Lorne stated as the vamp's temper was heating up.

Cordelia blinked, an idea shot into her head, she glanced wearily at Giles, "you don't think he's getting stronger do you? Like those other vamps?"

Giles considered it as Spike fumed away to himself, "it could be a possibility. Something could be affecting all the vampires."

Spike swallowed, trying to hold himself back, "like making us *bad*?"

"You're already bad… well, you're supposed to be," Cordelia considered.

Giles nodded, "it seems that it's just enhancing the demon side. Making them stronger and to feed off the anger."

"Uh-Oh." Lorne gulped.

They looked to Lorne, Cordy cocked her head to one side, "what?"

"Angel's going to be on his way here the second half of the night. Just before sunrise."

Cordy frowned, "here? Why? I told him I'd be fine!"

"He wanted to clear the locket thing up for you," Lorne said looking from Cordelia to Buffy, "and you."

Buffy pouted, "well, he can't come here! If there is something enhancing the demon side in vamps, it's gonna be Angelus all over again!"

A growl came from Spike's direction, "it wasn't funny." He was glaring at Cordy who looked puzzled.

Willow also looked confused, "huh?"

Tara shrugged at her girlfriend. She didn't like the way Spike was taking them all in with his eyes, "what wasn't funny?" She asked curiously.

Spike's eyes narrowed and he growled at the witch, "are you bloody stupid!? Saying I had a stake up my arse wasn't funny!"

Dawn snorted down a giggle. It hadn't been funny, no, but the way Spike was talking it bordered on hysterical.

In a flash Spike went for the teen, Cordy and Buffy moved to intervene, but they didn't have too. Spike collapsed on the floor howling and gripping his head.

"Grrrrreaaat, a psycho Spike." Buffy sighed and looked to her watcher, "should we be locking him up?"

Giles shook his head, "There's no point," he nodded to Spike on the floor just recovering, "he can't hurt anyone with the chip."

"Hey!" Cordy pointed at Lorne, "demon number one," then at herself, "demon number two – he can hurt *us*!"

Giles nodded, "right. Then we should."

"Like hell you bloody will," Spike growled, standing in his game face.

Buffy crossed her arms, "I'll kick your butt if I have too."

Spike turned to her, grinning maliciously in his game face, "I seem to remember that I'm now stronger than you, *slayer*." He hissed cruelly.

"Yeah, but forgetting one thing Mr. Macho Vamp," Cordelia said, quite amused by his dumbness, "you can't hurt her."

And with that distraction from Cordelia, Buffy knocked the blonde vampire out cold with the closet lamp, then she shrugged, "wasn't so hard."

~*~

After locking Spike up, Giles turned to the group, "right, splitting into two groups. First thing on the list is to kill the Sisky; I don't want it hanging around until the next full moon. Cordelia and Buffy take Willow and Tara with you, their magic could come in handy if you get in trouble. Lorne stay here, and call Angel, tell him to hold off on his little trip up here. Anya, Xander, carry on researching vampires."

"What about you?" Buffy asked.

"I'm going to go to Willy's. See what I can find out."

"Are you sure that's wise, Giles? Going on your own? I mean, with these vamps going around with enhanced demons?" Cordelia raised an eyebrow.

Buffy nodded, "she's right. You can't go on your own. Take Anya and Xander with you, as some kinda back up at least!"

Giles shook his head, "no, someone has got to keep researching."

"Well Lorne isn't exactly going to take more than five minutes to Angel on the phone, and he and Dawn are capable of reading, y'know," Cordy pointed out, "besides Wes is on it."

Giles looked surprised, "I rang him earlier and told him about my vision of the vamps and the struggle to kill them. He's ringing me if he finds anything. Which reminds me –" They watched as she grabbed the pad and pen by the phone and scribbled something on it. "My cell number in-case you need us."

The demoness turned to Lorne, "try the hotel first - if not, Angel's mobile - failing that, do the usual, Wes, Gunn, their mobiles. Angel can't come here if he's gonna get infected with whatever Spike has, 'cause at least he's incapable of hurting humans, a stronger and angrier Angelus would be indestructible."

She then turned to Giles and looked between him, Anya and Xander, "the second you guys get back from your info-hunt I want you to ring me. I'll put my phone on vibrate so we wont get distracted, if I don't answer right away, don't panic, just keep trying."

She looked to the slayers sister, "Dawn, we've done the book thing. Try online, go onto 'Demons, demons, demons' – despite the name they pretty much do everything – there's also uselful links to other sites…Oh, Lorne your in charge of Spike, if he wakes and starts mouthing off, don't be afraid to knock him out."

She then realised they were all looking at her with amazement, all except Lorne, who just seemed to be taking it all in as usual. Shrugging, she asked, "what?"

Xander gave her a small smile, "when did you become so organised, Miss Chase?"

Cordy met his gaze, all seriousness, "before Fred came, it was me and three quantities of testosterone – *someone* had to get into the organisation thing."

"She's got all three whipped," Lorne commented with a grin.

Cordelia's eyes turned to him in a glare, "don't you smirk at me, Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok clan." She said, giving her game away by pulling her tongue out at him and winking.

Lorne winked back, "so, me phoning Angel huh?" And he promptly headed for the phone.

* * *

"I know it's not supposed to go invisible until it goes all devensive, but you wouldn't happen to be seeing demon guy about, would you?" Buffy asked, exasperated.

Cordy shook her head, "I wish. I have a feeling this is going to be a very long night."

"Well, this is useless," Willow began, shivering against Tara, "we can't just walk around all night and hope it shows. It probably realises this is the one night that it's at risk, and decided not to come out."

"Helping, much, Will?" Buffy asked, rolling her eyes.

Cordelia glanced briefly up to the sky, "yeah," she said, accusingly, "helping much?" She half-smiled at the three other girls, "the timing of the PTB always sucks. Visions come at the most inappropriate times, and then when you need them, not at all!"

Cordelia's demonic senses suddenly flared up and her ears were alerted to the sound of movement in the bushes behind them. She spun, and her well-trained eyes searched the darkness.

Buffy moved closer, "what is it?"

"Sush, there's something there." And, one hundred percent on cue, a magnificently ugly vampire appeared, and in surprise all four young women yelped.

"Just what we needed," Buffy mumbled, stepping up to take Mr. Ugly on.

The vampire let out a vicious growl and stepped forward as well, teeth flashing in the moonlight.

Swiftly, the slayer knocked him to the ground having to use all her strength pushing him. Instantly she was aware that this was one of the newly nicknamed 'super-vamps'… She had a feeling this was going to be quite a fight.

He was rolling away from her, and on his feet in seconds; Buffy pulled out a stake, and lunged.

Willow and Tara were unsure what to do – if they tried to help they knew it would only put Buffy off her flight trying to watch them and make sure they were okay at the same time.

Cordelia on the other hand could see that this would end badly if someone didn't help the slayer out. This wasn't a normal vampire and she wasn't going to put any bets on Buffy winning by herself. Taking out her own stake, she advanced towards the fight.

The two were swapping hits and punches, completely matched, only the vampire seemed to be hitting his mark a few more times than Buffy did, the stake the slayer carried now lying on the floor.

Cordelia approached from behind, and swiped the vampire's legs from under him with a kick of the leg, sending him sprawling out onto the floor. Buffy took a split second to make eye contact with the seer, thanking her.

Then Buffy moved swiftly in for the kill with the stake Cordelia tossed her. But the vampire moved quickly, and grasped her hand roughly, twisting, Buffy let out a pitiful yell of surprise.

Cordelia moved as fast as the vampire, taking two steps, she kicked his arm and he released Buffy from his powerful grip.

The vampire rolled away and jumped up once again, Willow looked to Tara she knew that even thought this was just a vampire, it was going to take all four to put him to bed.

Nodding in agreement to her girlfriend, the two charged at the vampire, but he didn't phase and swiped with a growl at Tara while sidestepping out of Willow's way.

Buffy managed to grab Tara before the punch knocked her to the ground, it took her one second to make sure she was still conscious, before sitting her up.

While the others were recuperating, the vampire set his yellow glowing eyes on Cordelia, and lunged.

Cordy felt something shoot through her, a mixture of emotions boiled within her; fear, fury, frustration. Her skin felt hot, and a burning sensation swept into her eyes as they linked with the glowing yellow ones of the vampire.

Buffy saw the bright light sweep from her friend as she stood, regaining her fighting stance, but it was so staggering, she had to look away before she was blinded.

Tara used her arm to cover her eyes, she hadn't yet made it to her feet and had no clue of the source, all she was aware of was the light, a blinding white.

Willow saw it all, the vampire dive at her friend, and Cordelia's death-like stare as her eyes became a sparkly white, the vampire seemed to move in slow motion until Cordy's skin began to pour with the same intensity of her eyes and the light seemed to block out everything until the red-head had to look away and squeeze her eyes tightly together.

~*~

"Any luck?" Dawn pressed as she watched Lorne practically throw down the receiver onto the phone rest.

"No. I can't understand it!" Lorne shook his head, "Angel should be at the hotel – and if he wasn't, Fred would be, especially at now its past Connor's bed time! And if not, then why do they all have their cell phones switched off?" He threw his arms in the air in desperation.

"Maybe something came up, a demon or whatever and they had to go out slaying?" Dawn suggested.

Lorne shook his head, "they wouldn't have taken Connor with them – and if it wasn't safe for him at the hotel for some reason, then he would be at Wes' or Gunn's! Hell, I've even tried Cordy's apartment and there's no one there!" He sighed, and locked eyes with the teen, "the only thing I can think of is that they are already on their way here – Cordy's right! Angel needs lessons in turning his cell phone on! They all do!"

Dawn shrugged, turning the page of the book she was researching from; she started to say something, but got distracted by what she saw on the page.

"Ya got something, sweetie pie?" Lorne asked, shuffling out of his pink jacket and coming closer.

Dawn blinked, and looked more closely at the page. "She looks like Cordelia," she commented, as Lorne leaned over her shoulder to see the picture.

"You're right, Pet, she does," Lorne picked the book up and studied it closer, "it's not her, there are a few different features from what I can see, for a start, Our Cordy's got a better rack on her than –" It suddenly hit him what he was saying… and who he was saying it too. He shook his head, "I've been hanging out with Gunn waaaay too much."

Dawn rolled her eyes, "what does it say?"

Lorne cleared his throat and began to read what was written in the paragraph below the picture.

~*~

"Darn thing," Fred gave the cell phone a vigorous shake, then she looked accusingly at Angel, who was sitting beside her in the drivers seat, staring intently on the road ahead, "what have you done to it?"

"Nothing!" Fred could have sworn that was accompanied with a growl, "the stupid thing never does what I want it to do!"

Fred looked carefully at the scratch marks on the side of the handset, "and one day, when it didn't do what you wanted it too, you gave it a bash, right?"

Angel grunted, "Never hurt it before."

Fred rolled her eyes, and shifted in her seat to face the two men and a baby in the backseat. "Wes, phone?"

The ex-watcher sadly shook his head, "it's back at my place."

Fred grunted, annoyed and returned back into her seat. "Greeeaaaaat."

Beside her, the en-souled vampire shrugged, "doesn't matter, Lorne's probably told them we're coming, what does it matter if we're a few hours earlier than expected?"

~*~

"You sure you are OK?" Willow said, suspiciously.

Cordy stopped walking and faced the two witches and slayer, "guys. You know me. OK? Would I be missing out on this chance to complain if I could?"

Buffy smirked, "actually, Cordelia, the you we know would be complaining whether she was OK or not."

Understanding where the slayer was coming from, Cordy smiled back a little, "well, I *am* OK, Okay? So stop asking –"

Tara glanced briefly back at where they fought the vampire, "but, you just –"

"- Did a way weird thing?" The demoness shrugged, "what's so different about that? – Look, it's obviously one of my demon powers, but we can't worry about that now, we have to focus on this demon and kick his invisible-to-everyone-but-me ass."

Buffy nodded, "right. Sisky first, demon power freak out later."

Willow and Tara slowly nodded in agreement.

Tara looked about, "so, where we gonna start?"

"Possibly with the demon standing right behind you," Buffy said, un-phased.

Tara blinked, "kidding, right?" She asked, shifting nervously, and holding Willow's hand a little tighter.

Willow quickly glanced behind the two of them, "nope."

Holding hands even tighter, the two dashed towards Buffy and Cordelia and then spun around when they were at a safer distance to see the Sisky demon.

The demon didn't say anything, he just looked at them, eyes sparkling and looking terribly vicious and gruesome. Willow wrinkled her nose; "ask it if it can do the disappearing thing now, because scary looking dude!"

The creature let out a cross between a growl and a squeak and glared at the redhead, who bashfully muttered, "don't mind me."

Buffy seemed to be stuck back, "it really does look revolting, huh? Eeeew much?"

"Hey, that's my line!" Cordy whispered to the slayer next to her. Then a second later, she poked Buffy, "so, you gonna fight it or do we have to look at it's butt-ugly face all night?"

Buffy poked Cordelia back, "I was waiting for it to do the invisible thing – y'know, the whole point you're here?"

Cordelia made a face, "how could I forget?"

Suddenly, the creature moved towards them at an inhuman speed, Cordelia got out of the way before it even moved due to her demonic senses, Buffy however got knocked down.

Turning to drag the demon off her friend, Cordy was surprised to find only the slayer on her ass, blinking. She quickly gave her hand and pulled her up.

Going into fighting mode, Buffy scanned the area around them. "Where'd it go?" She asked urgently.

"Haven't a clue," Willow whispered, looking about as well, "Cordy?"

Cordelia shook her head, inspecting the shadows with her sensitive eyes. "Nothing," she said quietly.

Tara bit her bottom lip and turned around to look behind her, "maybe we scared it away?"

Cordy took in a sharp breath, "or not."

The three other girls spun to see where she was looking; they discovered she was looking up towards a treetop.

"In the tree?" Buffy asked, knowing she wasn't able to see it, but inspecting the branches anyway.

"Nope," the seer swallowed nervously, "Giles never said it could… well, grow that quickly."

The slayer looked at Cordy, bearing a pained look, "it's grown?"

"Oh, *yeah*."

Buffy returned her gaze back to the space Cordelia was looking at, "how big?"

"*Big*."

* * *

Shaking her head and ignoring the throbbing from the vampire's punch, Tara reached into Willow's bag.

"Finally," Willow muttered, "something we can do to help."

Buffy glanced briefly at Cordelia, "what would I do without my back up?"

But Cordy was far from listening, she was too busy tracking the demon with her eyes. She watched curiously at it moved away from them, uninterested now it thought they wouldn't be able to see it.

"Hey, good-looking!" The seer called loudly, waiting for the huge demon to turn back. "I can be quite tasty if you're up for the challenge."

"Great, Cordelia, just make the thing mad at us! And to think the old you would have run screaming into the night," Buffy rolled her eyes, and moved into her fighting stance despite all the reasons why she wasn't going to be able to battle with it.

Cordelia shrugged at the slayer, "well, I'm not the same person I was then, so sue me."

Cordy returned her gaze to the advancing demon. Addressing the slayer she gave out her orders, "not wanting to be all bossy on your ass, Buffy, but kick when I say kick, punch when I say punch, and for god's sake, duck when I say *duck*!" The seer emphasised her last point with a shout.

Obediently, the slayer swooped downwards and felt the whoosh of air as something travelled past her body. She feared that this thing was bigger than she first expected.

As the slayer followed more instructions from Cordelia, who was throwing in her own punches and kicks herself, she was vaguely aware of the two Wicca's chanting from the shadows behind them.

Unexpectedly, Buffy felt herself be thrown across in her friend's direction, thanks for the warning Cordy, she thought sarcastically as she slammed into a tree. But she couldn't blame Cordelia completely; the seer was fighting her own fight as well as looking after the slayers movements.

It seemed that Tara and Willow had finished their spell, as Buffy headed back towards where Cordelia was, the Wiccan's had joined hands and had their eyes locked on the space Cordelia was kicking.

The creature – wherever it was – tried the move it used on Buffy against the demoness and Cordy was thrown in the same manner against a tree.

The spell seemed to begin with a blue flash of light conducting from the two linked females, and the creature let out a squeal – or so they assumed.

The only indication of the spell's success was Cordelia's yell of surprise, "now lets see if you like being thrown about, squirt!" Cordelia was on her feet and back in her original place before the others could blink.

Bending down, she grabbed at something only see could see and threw it viciously at the nearest tree. They all heard the sound of it connecting and winced.

Buffy looked to Willow and Tara, "you shrunk it?" They nodded, smiling proudly, "cool."

Cordy moved fast when she saw the now-little Siskiy demon trying to run away from them. She didn't feel like she was moving faster than usual, but she realised she couldn't have caught it at all with out her demonic powers.

Holding the squirming creature tightly, she walked towards the other three girls.

"Nice work," Cordy commented, smiling gratefully at the couple. Then she held the creature out for Buffy to take.

Buffy scrunched up her nose, not impressed by the squealing sound the thing was making, "ugh, I don't want it!"

"You're the slayer," Cordelia thrust it again at Buffy, "so slay already."

Willow fished out Buffy's axe from her bag, "there ya go."

Buffy took it, "gee, thanks, Will." She looked back at Cordelia and the shrieking Siskiy. "Where am I aiming?"

Cordelia grabbed the demons little head with one hand and the wiggling feat with the other, "ya think chopping it in half will do it?"

"Just about," Buffy lifted up the axe.

"In between," Cordelia nodded at the spot, and prayed that she wouldn't get splattered in demon goo as Buffy swung.

~*~

"Ignore him," Lorne told the teen, flipping through another book.

Dawn clicked away on the computer, "already had that skill down," she grumbled, annoyed that she wasn't having any luck.

"You are such a poof!" The blonde vampire growled at Lorne from his tied up position on the floor, "are you Angel's significant other? You're just his type! Completely thick in the head."

Lorne opened his mouth, but Cordelia who had just walked through the door with Tara, Willow and Buffy got there first; "and you're just a peroxide slow-witted dick who's going to shut his fucking mouth about my friend this minute before I really get pissed." Cordelia didn't even wait for a response, she just turned back to Buffy, "see, I can still do the bitch thing."

The slayer laughed, "OK, OK, I take it back, you're still a bigger bitch than me."

Cordelia laughed with her, "right on!"

Lorne looked confused, "and this is something good, how?"

Cordy slid down into the seat next to him, "when you've worked twenty-one years to be an ice-queen, then you turn all help-the-helpless, it's definitely a good thing to know you can still swerve things your way with a string of bitchy insults."

Spike snarled, "yeah? Well things are not going your way, Princess, because I'm going to snap your pretty little neck in –"

"Spike, shut the fuck up! Keep in mind the fact that if you annoy me too much, a stake is going through you before you can even think where you made the mistake." Buffy said fiercely, before looking back to Cordelia, "good?"

Cordelia nodded, "you vicious bitch, you!" Then the two laughed.

"Bonded, much?" Dawn rolled her eyes. "How'd it go anyways? I gather this demon was down in seconds with the bitchiness from you both."

"From the four of us, actually," the seer grinned at Tara and Willow. "We kicked ass this much," she swung out her arms, and to everyone's surprise, shot upwards. Her head now an inch from the ceiling she looked down at the ground, "woopsies." Then she giggled, "Demon powers seem to wanna progress tonight."

"Good gracious! Cordelia! How on earth –" Giles, Anya and Xander stood in the doorway looking up at her.

"- Demon powers. Can someone help me down?"

"Yes, because sweetie-pie here and I have news." Lorne commented as Giles and Xander pulled chairs by Cordelia to pull her down.

Cordelia grasped Giles shoulders and willed herself downwards, helped by Xander pulling on her hands. "You found something on super-vamps? 'Cause they are frighteningly strong."

Spike growled, "Frightened?" He grinned evilly, "So you should be –"

Dawn had had enough, "Oh for God's sake! Somebody get the vamp a gag! I'm sick of his voice."

Willow took the scarf from her neck and made her way over to the blond tied-up vamp, "on it."

Now safely on the ground, Cordelia got back into the seat by Lorne. "So, what super-vamp news ya got?"

"Nothing no the vamps, just something on you," Dawn smiled and passed over the book to Lorne who found the page and laid it in front of Cordelia, who did a double take.

"Oh, my Gosh – that's –" She blinked and took a closer look, "not me."

"Yes it is." Dawn said smugly.

Cordy crossed her arms; "I think I know me when I see me."

"It's only a sketch, but it's enough like you to be you, Blossom, plus there's the text that's a whole bunch of interestingness. I'd read it to you but then there's the other piece of news that I have to tell you –"

~*~

"Are we there yet? This is taking longer than you said, Angel," Fred yawned next to him."

"We would be there if I was driving. Angel's not using my baby to her full potential." Gunn pouted.

"I'm going flat out," Angel said annoyed. "I'm at risk of turning into dust here, don't you think I'd be going faster if I could?"

Gunn crossed his arms, "then you're not handling her right. I can't see why I can't drive anyway, it *is* my car."

"Stop your whining, Gunn, you're supposed to be 'da man' – what a laugh that is," Angel growled.

"Hey, less of the spite or I might decide to throw you out and let you burst into flames alone out here."

Angel swerved the car to the side of the highway and stopped abruptly. He turned in his seat, "look, we're practically there, and stop insulting me so pathetically because no throwing me out of the car is going to happen especially when I could kick your wretched ass back to LA without even blinking."

Turning back to the wheel, Gunn prepared to have a go back, but Wes sensed something was wrong and but his hand on Gunn's arm, silencing him. Then to keep his friend calm and stop him from doing something he would regret, he handed him the sleeping baby.

Fred looked at Angel suspiciously as they got back on course, "you OK, Angel? You seem tense?"

"Fine," the vampire growled, and Fred decided to drop it.

~*~

"You're kidding!" Buff explained, "oh, *crap*!"

"You didn't think to tell me this when I walked in?" Cordelia asked, pulling out her cell phone and dialling quickly.

"Sor-ry, I thought you'd like to know that you're classed as a higher extreme being –" Lorne started.

" – Well, I wont be classed as anything if Angelus turns up and snaps my neck, will I?" Cordelia shut the phone off, "still switched off." Then she blinked, "higher being?"

Lorne prodded the book, "it's all explained there."

Cordelia's eyebrows shot up, "yeah?" Then she shook her head, "no wait, we more important things on the line. Demon powers can wait."

"Higher being powers," Dawn corrected.

Cordelia put that thought to one side, she turned to Giles, "did you find out anything about the super-vamps? If we can stop whatever has been happening to them before Angel arrives a lot of blood can be saved."

Giles shook his head, "nothing at all. We had an experience with one of them though, not pleasant."

Tara shuddered, "definitely not." She touched her bruise gingerly.

"One did that to you?" Giles asked, concerned.

Buffy nodded, "yeah, it took a while to kill the guy too, if it hadn't been for Cordelia's demon powers we would still be there now."

"Ah, we used a slightly different tactic." Xander put in.

Buffy raised an eyebrow, "yeah? Did it work? What was it?"

"Running away, and it worked extremely well because all three of us are still here."

"He was taking a snack when we came across him though, and we did get a little information out of him." Anya said proudly, "he wanted to turn us and add to the count of the Bringing," she shrugged, "whatever that is!"

Buffy took it in, "so someone is making the demon side in vamps in town enhanced for the Bringing, now why would someone do that?"

"Easy," Cordelia spoke up, "why else would someone enhance vamp power and get said vamps to turn more and more than for a take-over." She shrugged, "that's what vamps want, right? Complete power, some are just more oppressed than others to the power thing because they can see the advantages of having plenty of walking-meals, but if their humanity side is repressed and their demonic hunger and strength is superior then they will lose inhibitions – if you can even say a vamp has any!"

"So someone – some-vamp I guess it's save to say – is using a spell of some short to make the Sunnydale vamps superior demoness wise to try and take-over the world. Or so we reckon." Willow boiled it down.

Cordelia jumped up from her seat and started to pace, "right, so now we *think* we know what's going on, all we have to do now is figure when the Bringing is going to happen, where, and what it is exactly. – Why can you never find a prophecy when you need one?" She asked Giles who shrugged unhelpfully.

"Why can't Cordelicious ever have a vision when we need one?" Lorne asked, looking upwards.

"That's what I'd like to –" Cordy started, but she began to float upwards, "know. Cliché much?"

Buffy lunged and caught Cordelia's waist before she lifted more than a meter of the ground.

"Oh, no." The seers face was blank as the images flew through her brain, but that particular choice of words was not encouraging at all.

"What is it? What do you see?" Xander asked, helping the slayer pull her down.

Unexpectedly, Cordelia came out of the vision, and stopped floating, crumpling down onto the floor. Slowly she looked up and met Buffy with fear in her eyes, "Angelus."


End file.
